


the end is the beginning

by cornerstones



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: (god that sounds sappy but lbr it is true love), Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Universe, Feelings, Fluff, Introspection, M/M, POV Shiro (Voltron), Protective Shiro (Voltron), Temporary Character Death, True Love, i will never give up on sheith, set somewhere post s7 bc there is no s8 lol, sheith saving each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-17
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-10-11 19:29:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17452898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cornerstones/pseuds/cornerstones
Summary: It is all drowned out by the scene happening right before him; Haggar, with her hands raised and a manic glint in her eyes. The dead black yet glowing, vicious beams of dark magic ripping through the atmosphere. Their erratic movement as they make their way towards their target.Then, a singeing sound as the beams impact and Shiro hears his own voice scream out. Keith.-----This time, Shiro gets to save Keith.





	the end is the beginning

**Author's Note:**

> yea you've read right, i used the title of the last vld episode for this bc i'm salty and i claim that title now fuck off dreamworks
> 
> warning for temporary character death but i /swear/ it is definitely temporary and everything will be resolved and everyone will be happy in the end <3
> 
> we deserve keith and shiro being devoted to each other and being in love after the clusterfuck that was s8

Shiro feels as if it's all happening in slow motion.

He is distantly aware of Allura, mid-leap, her bayard formed as a lance expertly poised and ready to strike Haggar from behind; he knows that Pidge, Hunk and Lance all took cover from the witch's explosive powers, just in time; he hears all their shouts, both dulled by the distance spread between them and static through his helmet's comms.

But it is all drowned out by the scene happening right before him. Haggar, with her hands raised and a manic glint in her eyes. The dead black yet glowing, vicious beams of dark magic ripping through the atmosphere. Their erratic movement as they make their way towards their target. Towards Shiro.

Until a figure appears in front of him, still meters away. Shiro reaches out his left hand in a desperate move and he thinks he must be shouting, but he can't hear himself anymore. Then, a singeing sound as the beams impact; and this time, Shiro does hear his voice scream out. _Keith_.

Shiro stands there, helplessly, as he watches Keith stagger backwards a few, aborted steps, but he makes no sound; as if the blast has shocked his system. For a moment, a shrieked out laugh coming from Haggar reaches his ears till it's abruptly ended as Allura's feet hit the ground.

Finally breaking out of his stupor, Shiro stumbles forwards and reaches him the same moment that Keith loses his footing and falls, like a puppet having its strings suddenly cut. His still outreached hand catches him around the shoulders but Shiro feels how his own limbs are shaking, causing him to go down with Keith as well. He spares only a short moment to glance up to where Haggar was stood and sees Allura towering above her with both hands gripping her weapon tightly, head bowed and panting. The finality in her stance is palpable.

Quickly he casts his eyes down again, where Keith seems to start thrumming as if the energy of the blast is still whirring through his body and Shiro tries to stay somewhat upright while kneeling over his friend. He props up one knee and hauls Keith's torso upwards so that he could lean on him better. Rashly, he takes off his helmet and manages to wrestle Keith's off as well, more gently though. He doesn't think about it, his body is acting of its own accord while his mind is zeroed in on the man lying in his arms. Keith's eyelids are fluttering unnaturally fast and his breathing comes in short irregular pants.

“Keith...” Shiro rasps, his eyes flitting over the other man's face and body, searching for... _for what exactly?_ , he asks himself pathetically. He doesn't know in what way Haggar's magic has affected him. He doesn't know if his best friend has a wound he needs to tend to. Doesn't know if he's in pain. Just how bad the pain might be. How he might recover from it. _How will he recover...?_

The thrumming is intensifying for a moment, causing Keith's whole body to seize up viciously. A brisk, inhaled whimper comes from his throat before his jaw is clenched tightly. Shiro feels completely at a loss and with his free, mechanical hand he's trying to soothe the convulsed body in his arms, even though he stills feels almost too scared to touch, afraid his touch is only going to make the pain worse.

As sudden as he tensed up, the tension leaves his body, making every part of it go lax in an instant and his head snaps back hard, landing on Shiro's arm.

“Keith,” Shiro calls out once again, this time decidedly more frantic than before. His right hand comes up to brush away Keith's bangs, which have gotten into his eyes from where they were plastered to his forehead. As he does so, he notices the shallow breaths escaping Keith's slightly parted lips, still coming too irregular to be of any comfort. His lashes are fanning over his cheeks, but worryingly slower now.

“ _Keith_ ,” Shiro repeats and he can hear the fear lingering in his voice. “Keith, do you hear me?”

At that, Keith's eyes blink open, not without great effort though. His pupils are changing direction erratically, still unseeing.

When he finally speaks, he sounds so disorientated that Shiro can feel his heart clench: “Shiro...?”

_So weak, he sounds so weak..._

“Keith, Keith, I'm here,” he responds quickly, watching as Keith's eyes follow his voice until they finally land on his face. Realization seems to dawn on him, and his pale face ( _his too pale face, oh god_ ) slowly breaks out into a smile, so fragile yet so unparalleled in its beauty that Shiro can't help but return it, his lips trembling.

“ _Shiro_.”

How Keith could still sound so affectionate when he's barely able to move, Shiro will never be able to fully comprehend.

“Yeah, it's me,” he breathes out, moving the hand that had been resting on Keith's face till now away to grab Keith's hand in his own. His grip is anything but firm, just the slightest press of his fingers against Shiro's prosthetic ones. “I got you.”

“Did Allura get to her?” Keith asks, his voice so low Shiro almost can't make out his words.

“Yeah,” he affirms with a quick nod. “She did.”

“Good.” His eyelids start dropping again, so Shiro squeezes his hand. The words are rushing out of him: “Hey, hey, don't close your eyes, keep them on me, c'mon, stay with me.”

This time when he opens them, his pupils seem to be glazing over, getting more and more unfocused, yet his smile stays in place.

“Shiro...”

 _Keith_ , he wants to say but his voice fails him. His throat is closing up, his mouth dry. His left hand tightens his hold on Keith's shoulder.

Even through his steadily growing haze, Keith manages to scan his face before he breathes out a long, almost relaxed exhale: “You're safe.”

He holds his warm gaze and Shiro wants to curse; how can Keith look relieved right now, how dare he act like he achieved something here.

With his eyes still locked on his own, Keith's eyelids slowly droop closed, his smile growing weak.

White hot panic shoots through Shiro's whole being. “ _No_ , Keith, don't – Keith, don't do this to me!”

Keith's smile is vanished from his face.

“ _Keith!_ ”

Shiro stares at him, unblinking, as his grip on him starts to tremble terribly. His throat is on fire as he chokes out his name again and again, pleadingly, desperately. _You can't leave me._

His right hand finds its way back to his pale face and dark hair. He cradles his face almost reverently. The tremors finding their way through his body are even going through his prosthetic, making Keith's head tremble slightly in turn, but showing no reaction to the shaky hold. Only when his vision starts getting blurry does Shiro squeeze his eyes shut and ducks his head to press his forehead against Keith's.

This isn't happening. This _can't_ be happening.

There have been many moments in his life, countless times really, where Shiro felt scared, where he felt hurt, broken, useless. He lost his arm, twice; he gained more scars on his body than he can count; he killed too many people in order to protect himself and learned to shoulder that guilt that still wears him down; he was lost, in more ways than he could have ever imagined; he died. Shiro is familiar with pain, intimately so.

But all of that pain pales compared to this.

To holding Keith's body close to his, his unresponsive body that still harbors warmth that Shiro clings to. He tries to inhale his smell – that he has long since associated with a sense of home – through the still present smell of sulfur in the air and the faint sheen of sweat lingering on Keith's skin. Panic continues to ring in his ears when the warmth is leaving Keith's body with every passing second, too fast, too real. _I'm losing him_ , Shiro thinks in a frenzy, and presses his forehead to Keith's even harder. A resigned voice in his head pipes up. _You already lost him_.

He doesn't know when the tears started running down his cheeks or when he started rocking Keith's body carefully. Is this how Keith felt, every time he lost Shiro? Is this the universe's idea of some cruel, twisted irony? That after all the times Keith has saved him, has protected him, Shiro isn't allowed to return the favor?

How many times has Shiro thought this was the end, only to open his eyes to see Keith right there, always waiting and fighting for him. He knows Keith has always thought of Shiro as someone who changed his life, when Shiro knows that all he simply did was believing in Keith and refusing to give up on him. But this always came naturally to him. Because Keith had become his one constant in life as well, and the only one who never demanded of Shiro to be the picture perfect idea of Takashi Shirogane; he always supported Shiro in everything he chose to do, regardless of other people's opinions.

Somewhere along the line, Keith must have realized just how important, how essential he has become for Shiro as well, right? Both their stories have become so interwoven, for a long time it didn't seem like they could ever be truly separated.

Shiro chokes out a barely suppressed sob.

Somewhere at the edge of his perception, he faintly notices the footfalls of three people approaching, halting a good distance away from him and Keith. Allura must have already gotten closer, at some point, unbeknownst to Shiro. He registers their voices, weak and timid, and their shock at the scene before them, but he might as well be on another sphere altogether right now. His entire being is focused on the man in his arms who he can't let go of.

Their plan for this last mission wasn't supposed to end up this way. It wasn't meant to turn into a combat fight with the witch in the first place. They shouldn't have been separated from the Voltron Coalition and the Atlas, with Shiro on board of the Blue Lion. Even after all their preparation, they still underestimated the powers Haggar possessed so that she could force them through a wormhole with her after they defeated more of her robeasts. And then she was able to ground all their Lions, making them immobile and unresponsive, that came as the biggest surprise to them. And with their Lions grounded, there was no Black Lion to come to her paladin's rescue this time around.

Shiro grits his teeth at the scream that wants to force its way out of his lungs and he tucks his face away into the hollow of Keith's neck. There's no pulse. He feels something within him shatter at the evidence presented to him right there. _I should have protected you_.

He tightens his hold on Keith and pulls him closer to his own body. As if sheltering him now would make any difference at all, he berates himself but doesn't loosen his grip; he wants him as close as he possibly can, the way they should be.

How did Keith do this, time and time again. Shiro has always known of Keith's strength, has admired him for it and for his will to never quit, even through the deepest, most traumatizing pain. But to hold on when there's no hope left...

It's his turn now. Keith is the one person who has never given up on him. He has done more for him than he could ever deserve, and there is still so much more Shiro wanted to do for him. He never really did enough, after all. There must have been moments between all the fighting and the planning and the suffering, opportunities to really be there for him, in any way Keith might have needed him to. They all wanted to save the universe but Shiro should have put more effort, more heart, into saving him as well. Because, _hell_ , does Keith deserve that; to not be the savior for once.

And how could he ever think the entire universe saved when his future is lying lifelessly in his arms right now.

He's clutching his body to his chest and thinks he won't ever be able to let go of him. He refuses to. He refuses to give up on the man in his arms because this is a reality he doesn't want to be part of.

When his prosthetic starts spreading a sort of tickle through his arm, Shiro doesn't quite realize it at first.

But then it changes, gets more intense and it's not like anything he has experienced with it so far, yet he doesn't look up. His arm is steadily buzzing and he can sense a tingling warmth spreading through it. Shiro thinks it might be acting up, might be malfunctioning, might even start turning against him now. _Good_ , he thinks, bitterly. Maybe this will finally be his way to go. It's fine, he welcomes it. He keeps his eyes closed and waits for the inevitable pain.

Instead, a sudden outcry from one of the paladins pulls him out of his haze: “Shiro... your arm...!”

More voices ring out, too loud in the deadly quiet surrounding them.

“It's... why is it...?!”

“What is it doing?!”

“Shiro, what are you doing!”

“Why is your arm glowing?!”

The last one makes him finally raise his head to look at his Altean hand, still cradling Keith's expressionless face – but now indeed glowing in a bright blue shade. The low thrum is slowly coursing through his whole body till he can sense its vibration in his breastbone.

But more than that, it seems to go over to Keith as well and soon a light glow is settling in his appearance. Shiro feels himself getting both more tired and, weirdly, lifted, in a floating kind of way; he feels himself getting more and more detached from anything around him but Keith, who's still held firmly in his arms with Shiro's right hand still cradling his face.

He doesn't know what to make of the situation, nevertheless he somehow, strangely, remains calm and can't bring himself to look around wildly to seek aid or just to see a look of commiseration because that would mean taking his eyes off of Keith and he doesn't want to risk that.

His bewilderment and fascination only grow when the tinted glow Keith's entire being radiates changes from a light blue to a lavender hue. His bangs start flowing slightly as if a soft breeze emerged from somewhere, though Shiro only feels a deep-set warmth that his prosthetic keeps emitting. Then, both the humming and the glow start receding gradually and Shiro watches with bated breath as the lavender hue seems to cling to Keith's skin.

The quiet returns, as does Shiro's anguish as he looks down at the man in his arms, looking so deceivingly peaceful – until suddenly his eyes open wide, full of purple light, before it vanishes quickly, together with the purple tint residing on his skin.

All his muscles seem to twitch at once as Keith gasps. His violet irises are unfocused for a second, but then find Shiro's immediately as if drawn in by a magnetic pull. He can't believe it.

Keith studies his face, a slight frown adorning his brows, and he reaches out a weak hand, seemingly unconsciously. “Shiro...?”

A tentative yet uncontrollable smile tugs at his lips. “Keith,” he breathes out, feeling lighter like never before. Fresh tears prickle at his eyes, his heart is soaring.

Keith's outreached hand settles on Shiro's cheek, his thumb lightly stroking the skin at the corner of his eye. Despite the exhaustion pouring out of every inch of his body, he smiles up at Shiro with undisguised fondness.

“Shiro... you saved me.”

At that a few stray tears do escape and he huffs out a surprised laugh that sounds like it's not too far off from a sob: “God, Keith...”

He almost throws himself forward in his haste to feel Keith, _alive_ , as close as possibly, and buries his face in the crook of his neck. This time he can feel his pulse there, beating strongly.

“I thought I was too late,” Shiro confesses, and revels in the sensation of Keith's arms around him, holding him just as tightly.

“Shiro...”

“I _was_ too late.”

Huffing out a breath, Keith pulls back and forces Shiro out of hiding to look into his eyes. He looks at him sternly and lets his hands fall from around his back to his neck, keeping him there. Even if he wanted to, Shiro could never turn away from the sight before him – Keith, all determined, open and vulnerable, and so goddamn beautiful.

“But you weren't,” Keith utters decidedly. “You _weren't_ , Shiro.”

The sharpness melts away from his features and he sighs, closing his eyes and leaning slightly forward while gently pulling Shiro closer again so that they're resting their foreheads against each other. “You've saved me a long time ago, already.”

Shiro doesn't know if his heart ever felt so full. He inhales deeply: “So have you.”

Even though he has his eyes closed, he knows Keith is smiling too.

They stay in their embrace for a few long moments, just breathing the other one in and letting something akin to peace creep up on them.

“So... what the hell just happened?”

They open their eyes abruptly and, after sharing an equally dazed look, slowly lift their heads towards their friends. They're standing there, watching them intently with various stages of shock and disbelief plainly written all over their faces. They all pretend that there are no tear tracks to be found on anyone of them.

Before neither Shiro nor Keith can even attempt to answer Lance's question he turns to Allura, the others following suit. Allura appears to be none the wiser though: “I... I don't know. I've never seen anything like it. Except maybe –“ She pauses there, gaze dancing from Keith to Shiro and back. “Except for when your body rejected your consciousness. But Keith called for you and... you came back.”

Her tone is warm and she gives them a soft smile, full wonder. The others turn their heads back to them as well, astonishment clear in their eyes.

Shiro doesn't know how to feel about this sharp focus on him and Keith, and notices belatedly that they still got their arms around each other. But, he decides, this day has been too jarring already to deny himself something as simple as wanting to have Keith in his arms.

“Guys, do you feel that?” Keith seems focused and alert suddenly.

Shiro guesses it a second before his friends exclaim: “The Lions!”

Smiling, Keith makes to get up and Shiro automatically puts an arm around Keith's waist to support him. “Alright, let's check how they're doing.”

They don't start running back instantly. Instead they all take this moment right here – standing together as paladins and as friends – and look at each other with pride of their accomplishment and pride for one another. They actually did it. Voltron saved the universe.

Slowly, they break out of the circle they found themselves in and make their way back to where their Lions were grounded so they can run damage control. Shiro and Keith stay several steps behind, deliberately. Not one of their teammates comments on it or even spares them a second glance.

They walk in silence for a bit till Shiro hears Keith sigh under his breath.

“You're sensing Black?”

“Yeah. She's okay, still recharging but definitely okay,” Keith says, relief coloring his voice. Then he adds, a bit meekly: “It feels like she was worried there for a moment.” He smiles up at him but Shiro can see the emotions behind his eyes. He squeezes his waist for a tick.

They're reaching the edge to a crater from where they can see the Lions, already sitting up and awaiting their paladins, who are greeting them happily. But the two don't join them just yet.

“I think it'll take me a while to believe this,” Keith voices as they watch their friends. “The universe is actually saved.”

Shiro hums in acknowledgement, in a similar state of disbelief himself.

When Keith speaks again, he sounds uncharacteristically hesitant: “...it's all over now, isn't it?”

Shiro thinks of all the things that are now to be done. He looks at their friends and knows they first have to contact the Atlas and the Coalition to spread the news, then they need to get back. There will be many meetings and so much paperwork, new occupations to find and organize. The galaxy is still in disarray, peace won't appear out of nowhere in every corner of the universe just because they're no longer officially at war. There is so much work to be done.

Then Shiro looks over at Keith and thinks of sunsets. He thinks of laughter, and freedom. And how they can share all of that now.

He smiles at him.

“I think it's only just the beginning.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> (and btw yes haggar totally wanted to get to keith so she knew she had to aim for shiro)
> 
> i had this idea one night at like 2am shortly after s7 came out and we had that epic keith-saved-shiro-from-sendak scene so i felt like shiro might want to return that favour and since it's already canon that keith was able to bring back shiro with simply his determination and the Power of Love, well...........
> 
> what a shame vld ended after that season haha good times
> 
> thanks for reading! <3


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